A new morning.

[Rob Miner]

1.7 TC, morning sun on bird - reduced Exp -2, bkgrn came in very dark-in PS3 lightened bkgrn and added gold tint.
Camera Model: NIKON D2Xs
Firmware: Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
Date/Time: 2009:06:01 13:32:29
Shutter speed: 1/2000 sec
Aperture: 6.7
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: -2/3
Total Exp comp: +2147483 2/3
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 800
Lens: 200 to 400mm
Focal length: 650mm
Focal length: 975mm (in 35mm film)
Image size: 2880 x 3470
White balance: Auto
Color space: AdobeRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Contrast: Normal

Comments and Critique most welcome.

Rob......................

[Amy Marques]

Hi Rob. The image looks a little flat to me and there appears to be some noise in the black. Also, I am not sure if that cyan should be in the black plumage, but it sure is a handsome bird. Thanks for sharing.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the angle, eye contact and BG. The bird needs a bit more sharpening and I agree that it looks a bit flat. I would also tone down the whites on the chest and crop a bit off the left but not much.

[Art Kornienko]

Hi Rob, beautiful bird, but detail in feathers does seem to be lacking and there looks like a bit of noise in the black as mentioned by Amy.

[Ramon M. Casares]

I like the species and pose, BG is nice too, I would suggest more contrast, saturation, a round of USM would help as it looks a tad soft on my monitor, and also some NR on the bird could help.
Congratulations.

[Paul Kusmin]

I get the same "soft quality" when I use my 1.7x, it's still a decent shot but it takes a bit more work to get it sharp.
The pose is nice, as is head angle, the gold tint BG looks good but the wing tips look a bit grainy, a bit of NR would help.
As others have mentioned, a bit more contrast and saturation is in order.

Great bird, I'd love to see one.

[Judd Patterson]

Nice one...what a great species, Rob. In bringing out details in the blacks you have introduced some noise...and given the image a bit of a gray tone. If you look at a Levels adjustment layer you will notice that you can drag the blacks up to 20 before you even start to hit true black. While you don't want to lose too much detail to blacks, having at least a little true black on this bird will help to give it a more realistic appearance (they really do have some dark feathers). It's sure a great image with lots of potential!

[Arsdel Fluesmeier]

It looks a bit flat to me also. You can probasbly sharpen it up a bit